Cowl Cave

I don't remember a path but I do remember a mightly slog up Cowl Pass. As I recall you pretty much just keeping going straight up the valley above KBC on the easiest terrain and you'll see an obviously large boulder. Stay to the right of this and keep heading up. Leave your river crossing nice and late and then it is simple, if you are climbing through bushes you crossed to early.

Dave, I can partly answer your question.

My answer relates to a path up to Moncs Cowl.

Er, no, no real path, just bushwacking. I'm referring to the pass between Cathkin and Moncs Cowl, NOT Moncs Cowl and Champagne Castle.
However, while no path the terrain isn't terribly difficult. Fairly high grasses and rocks all over the place, so you are in for a lot of high steps.
My approach was to stay to the right as far as possible. Here there were less rocks lying around and the steps were mostly smaller, and the ground more level.

All in all a lekker climb but note there is no water at the top or anywhere on route. Last water I found (April 2018) was basically at KBC. I first tried crossing the stream higher but it was bone dry, so had to walk quite far down through the overgrowth in the riverbed to find water.

Enjoy!!!

First, to clarify the confusion about Cowl Cave being closed: As per the notice below (correctly spelled), there is in fact a Cow Cave somewhere down in the Sterkspruit Valley on private property. The rock art has been vandalized and there has been cattle theft, so the cave is now closed.


I did not in the end make it to Cowl Cave, as my hiking partner was not feeling well, but here are some more pics of the traverse from the Cathkin-Cowl nek to the Champagne-Cowl gully. You start on this ledge:


It looks exposed from below, but the exposure isn't that bad:




The corner gives an awesome view down the south side of the pass:


It is on the section into the Champagne-Cowl gully that the exposure gets quite severe. As always, photos can't really give a sense of it, but the drop to the left is massive and a fall here would probably be fatal.


In wet weather or snow, I would regard this traverse as highly risky, but in good weather, as above, it just requires care.

HI All 
I have seen a thread on COWL CAVE when i search on my phone but on the VE site i cant find it through searches.
Is there a topic on this already ?
I have some questions
thanks! Brian

Guys,

A quick question.

Is it possible to HIKE down the saddle between Moncs Cowl and Champagne Castle? i.e. back down to KBC?
I want to go up to the saddle between Cathkin and Moncs Cowl (have done this part before), traverse around the southern side of Moncs Cowl (across the grass ledge) and then check out Cowl caves. From here, rather than reverse my route that I just went up to the caves, I want to just drop down (sorry, HIKE down) the saddle between Champagne Castle (on my true left) and Moncs Cowl (on my true right) to KBC.

If possible, what is the terrain like? If small scrambles it would be fine, but nobody in the group are climbers so if it involves more serious scrambling I'll have to go back down the way I came up.

My question wasn't about the existence of the saddle, but about possibly hiking down the northern side of Cowl cave, i.e. from Cowl cave down to KBC. Starting point is Cowl Cave, with Champagne Castle on my left and Moncs Cowl on my right.

I would suggest going the other way around, namely up the gully adjacent to Champagne Castle and down the gully next to Cathkin.

Tony and I did exactly this a while back when we failed to find the start of the Champagne Frontal Route.

I suggest boulder hopping from the split of the 2 Cowl gullies 

As you turn left and now have Champagne Castle on your right you encounter some steep stuff. We climbed the slab next to the chimney. It is exposed enough to scare many people off.

From that point on, it is easy ground to the saddle and hence cave.

Thanks Andrew,

You don't perhaps have a pic of the sloping section? My wife isn't keen on exposed stuff (Rolands entrance for example).
Would a rope help here?